Have you ever found yourself reading a book and you were so captivated by it that you could not put it down? Have there been times when you picked up a book started reading it and wanted to know why anybody would publish such trash? It’s about the story.

There are mediocre books, good books, and awesome books. Awesome books are the ones you want to add to your library and read them over and over again. You highlight sentences and paragraphs, you bookmark favorite passages, you recommend it to others. Why? Because you love the book.

Your life is a story.

Like books, your story can be either a mediocre one or a really amazing one. What determines the difference? Well, it has a lot to do with who the author is.

If you write your story, you are the main character. It is all about you. You write about your likes, passions, dreams, desires, dislikes, struggles, and you avoid talking about the things that you really do not like about yourself. If you are the author, you do not intentionally lie but you do not reveal the whole truth. There are aspects to the main character that you would rather remain hidden. Let’s face it. Your story apart from Jesus, is not really that great. It is lackluster, mediocre, clearance shelf material at best. There are already too many stories that are written where the main character is prideful, selfish, self-indulgent, lazy, complacent, stagnant….you get the idea.

We don’t need another author who is drunk on themselves and wallows in their drunkenness.

What you need is to not write the story yourself but let somebody else write your story.

It is no secret that God wrote a book. God is the author of the Bible. The Creator of the universe, time, and history wrote the Bible.

When God writes your story, the story is not about you. You are not the main character. Jesus is. Your story is just part of a far bigger and better story.

When God writes your story, it is not about your likes, it is not about your passions, dreams, desires etc. It becomes about you were redeemed by Jesus and He is changing you to conform to His image and in this journey, you are not who you used to be. You have been made new. You are becoming who Jesus made you to be.

Your story will be a greater if you take a step back. Put the pen down and just walk away. Let God write your story. There will be times of joy and sadness. There will be times of celebration and discipline. There will be times of rejoicing at an accomplished goal and there will be times of uncertainty and suspense. It becomes everything a good story is supposed to be.

When God writes your story, the story will be far greater than you could ever possibly imagine.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

(Ephesians 6:10-20 ESV)

A lot of Christians in churches today have a sword and shield but they are more collector’s items than they are functional weapons. The shield might hang on the wall and the sword is probably on a stand inside of a glass case. They serve no purpose other than to be looked at. These weapons have not seen a fight in weeks – sometimes years.

These same Christians are just not proficient with the sword. They do not know how to use it. They do not train with it. They do not sharpen it. If you are going to be intentional about fighting a war in which your enemy is very good, you need a mentor to train you. If you do not have a mentor, go and find one.

When the battle comes, and you don’t know how to use your weapons, you will go into the fight with a dull sword that you do not know how to use. Trying to fight this way is stupid. You are not likely to damage your enemy with a dull blade. You also leave yourself wide open for attack. If you do not know how to deflect strikes and attacks by the enemy, you are as good as dead.

Paul says that the enemy has flaming darts. Think of it this way:

The devil takes an arrow, coats it in oil and then sets it on fire. The arrow’s potential to do severe damage has now been maximized. The devil picks up his bow and places the flaming arrow in its launching place. He pulls the bow string back as tight and as far as he can. This will ensure a faster speed and greater distance for the arrow. He picks what he believes to be a vulnerable target, takes aim at you and lets the arrow fly.

Are you prepared to defend yourself or are you positioning yourself for the flaming arrow to do the most damage?

Have you ever found yourself in a place where you knew that God was chasing you? You might recall a situation or circumstance where you just knew that God was using those events to get your attention. This is what I call the wake up call.

God’s wake up calls always have a purpose. However severe or drastic they may seem, they are designed to open our eyes to the fact that we have run from fellowship with God and under conviction we are called to repentance.

Jonah had a wake up call. God called Jonah to go and preach to the people in Ninevah. Jonah decides to buy a ticket and hop the nearest cruise ship that was going as far away from Ninevah as humanly possible. What Jonah forgot was however far he ran from what God was calling him to do, God was still right there. God had never left Jonah. God had a purpose, a mission for Jonah to accomplish. We all know the story. The whale was Jonah’s wake up call. Being inside the whale gave Jonah a few days to contemplate the error of running from God. Eventually, Jonah knows that the best thing for him is to repent and serve God. Jonah repents and God uses him to preach to Ninevah and the city is saved from ultimate destruction.

David had a wake up call. David lusted after another man’s wife. After sleeping with her and getting her pregnant, David tries to manipulate the husband into going home to sleep with his wife. After the husband refused, David arranged for the man to die in battle. The prophet Nathan went to see David. Nathan told him that the baby was going to die. David finally realized the depth of his sin and out of repentance was birthed Psalm 51. Nathan was David’s wake up call.

I like Mustangs. That is probably an understatement. I really like Mustangs. The first car that I ever bought was a Maroon 1988 Mustang. It was an automatic. At the time, I was 20 years old and that Mustang was everything that I wanted in a car. I had this insane desire to drive that car like it was the General Lee.

I would race it, slide it, drive it like I stole it. i wanted to push that car to its limits. I saw my fair share of speeding tickets in that car. It never crossed my mind that God would use that car as my wake up call.

I did a stretch as a car salesman for a little while in my early 20s. After working a 12 hour shift, I jumped into the Mustang and headed to see my girlfriend that went to school two and a half hours away. Did I mention it was raining. I knew that this relationship was not where God wanted me to be. Both friends and family were waving red flags but I decided to head into the danger zone because that was the relationship that I wanted right then.

Traveling down the interstate in the rain, the Mustang’s rear passenger side tire caught a wet spot just right and I hydroplaned. The car did two full circles on the dark, two lane highway right before going backwards down a deep embankment.

It happened so fast that I could not really piece together what was going on. The car spun around as it came to the bottom of the ditch. The car was buried in mud up to the bottom of the driver’s door and I could not get it to open. I had to crawl out of the passenger side door.

After the humiliating call to my parents and watching a tow truck use six chains to pull my car out of the sludge that held it captive, I begin the process of going home.

That night was a defining moment, an intermission of sorts.

Soon afterwards, that relationship ended. I went back to my church and got involved with my church family.

Looking back, I can see now that it was by God’s grace that he did not allow me to continue down the road I was on. That was not where He wanted me to go. He had to get me off that road and back on His road because He had works that I needed to accomplish.

I am thankful for grace that called me back from my selfishness and steered me in the right direction – following Jesus.

There is nothing better on a Monday morning than smelling fresh coffee brewing. The amazing coffee aroma fills up the kitchen. The smell of the fresh brewed coffee starts your mind working. Smell enhances taste. The aroma of the coffee causes you to think about the steaming, hot cup of deliciousness that you are about to enjoy.

The Bible says that as a disciple, our lives are to be lived in such a way that our life is a sweet aroma to God.

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,
(2 Corinthians 2:15 ESV)

Think about that for a moment. The aroma of Christ to God. This would be an enjoyable, pleasant aroma, not a foul smelling one.

Your life should smell like:

a fresh apple pie right out of the oven

a cinnamon roll

a new red rose

a dozen, hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts

a fresh cup of coffee

How do we live our lives so that they are the aroma of Christ to God?

Live your life to the glory of God.

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
(1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV)

Walk in Jesus.

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.
(Colossians 2:6 ESV)

Love His Word.

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
(Psalm 119:11 ESV)

Renew your mind.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
(Romans 12:2 ESV)

Following the leading of the Holy Spirit and desiring to be conformed more to the image of Jesus is like a bouquet of fresh flowers to God.

To be the aroma of Christ to God, your life must be offered as a sacrifice.

Everything in your life is to be used to the glory of God and not to the glory of yourself. After Paul was redeemed, his entire life was lived in service and sacrifice to God. This includes his suffering.

We do not like to think much of suffering but God uses our suffering to His glory and for our good. The suffering we will experience is to mold us and shape us and help us to become the people that God created us to be to accomplish the works that He has given us to accomplish.

The more you are conformed to the image of Christ, the more your life will be a sweet aroma to God.

This is a guest post by my friend Darrell Vesterfelt. Darrell Vesterfelt is the CEO of the Prodigal Media Group, a storytelling firm based in Minneapolis where he lives with his wife Ally. Darrell is the original #unblogger. You can connect with him on Twitter or call him at (612)802-5227.

When God Tells You to Do Something Stupid

I quit my job at a church in September.

It was one of the biggest steps of faith I have ever taken because it was not only a step into the unknown, but a step from the known.

I know that sounds like the same thing, but it isn’t.

You see, recently my wife and I decided to chase our dream of running an online magazine called Prodigal Magazine full time. We didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, but we had this sense that our work with this project was divinely inspired.

For the past nine months, we had been working as a part of a staff team at a church plant, running Prodigal and working part-time jobs to pay the bills. It was a lot to handle, but it made sense. Since the time I was young, I thought that God had “called” me to work in full time church ministry.

Looking back I’m not really sure why I thought this was the case. Probably because I grew up in the church, loved God, loved creating relationships with people, and had other skills that seemed to match up with church ministry.

So I went to school for church ministry, worked internships in churches, and looked for jobs at churches.

When the opportunity came to plant a church, it just seemed like the next step.

When my wife and I started working together to run a small online magazine, I figured it was sort of a side thing. I thought that church ministry was my full-time job, and that anything else would be secondary.

So when Prodigal started to thrive, it surprised me to see how it became it’s own full-time ministry.

Aside from that, I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed the work. I liked working with my wife, I liked building a team of people around the magazine, I was energized by all of the daily tasks and the prospect of growth, and we were starting to see how people’s lives (including our own) were changed by the work we were doing.

So I made one of the most difficult, confusing, but right decisions of my life by choosing to leave full-time church ministry, the only career I had ever dreamed of having, the only thing I had ever known, to enter the world of publishing —

A world I was just discovering, and exploring.

Leaving didn’t make any sense, but at the same time, we knew it was right.

Leaving the comfortable and familiar to follow where we felt God was leading, even when it didn’t make sense, has introduced us to the person of God, a God of the miraculous who loves his children lavishly and takes care of their every need.

We’ve experienced his character in ways we never did before.

When God tells you to do something that seems stupid, or that doesn’t follow conventional wisdom, it’s difficult to respond. You worry about what people will say about you, and you worry if you’ll end up failing, running out of money, or looking like an idiot.

Then, any one of those things will happen.

And you’ll realize it isn’t as bas as you thought it would be.

What you’ll find is that God doesn’t see things the way we do. In order to follow him we have to trust that He sees what we don’t. Lots of things will get in your way, and you’ll have to overcome those things, or let them go completely.

You’ll never regret trusting Him fully.

I know we haven’t.

Has God ever asked you to do something that seemed stupid? How did it turn out?

Like this:

I recently listened to a sermon by Pastor Judah Smith that he preached at the Newspring Leadership Conference. His message focused on what do you do when you find yourself in the meantime.

The meantime is that place when you are not where you were but you are not where you want to be. You are not on the other side. You are not at the end. You are not where the vision that God gave you finally explodes into fruition and it is awesome. The meantime is the space in between. The meantime is where you wait.

I am a pastor/church planter. I know the vision that God has given me even if nobody else understands it. Guess what. I am in the meantime.

Do you know how difficult that is to write. Nobody wants to say that. Nobody wants to say that they are struggling. Nobody wants anyone else to know that its not going the way you thought it would.

Right?

God gives you a vision and you want to run with it and you get to your church’s one year birthday and you celebrate and you are happy but you know that there is more. God where are the people? Where are the disciples that make disciples? God, I need a building.

When people tell you that you are not good enough and that you are not cut out for this what do you do?

When you hide the fact that you are struggling because people think you have it all together, what do you do?

When you question your calling, what do you do?

You have been there too. God, are you sure that you got the right guy for this?

Then God answers you. “I made you.”

What do you do?

Stay in the boat.

Don’t run. Don’t quit. Don’t tapout. Don’t throw in the towel or cash in all the chips. Stay in the boat.

We all want to be on the other side. We all want to see the vision come to pass. We all want to see the finish line. Stay in the boat.

You will get there when Jesus wants you to get there.

I know that does not seem like much help but there is a reason why you are in the meantime. This goes for me as well.

God is doing something to us and in us. He is making us, molding us, shaping us into the people that he needs for us to be.

You cannot cross to the other side before you are supposed to because if you get there too early, you would not know what to do when you got there.